SUNRISE, Fla. — It took a conference call “hearing” Monday evening with NHL cops, and it didn’t alter the inevitable sentencing that was deemed “harsh” by Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. Either way, Zac Rinaldo essentially got what he wanted.

The Flyers’ buzzsaw winger was handed a four-game suspension then from the league’s lords of discipline for his elbow-first, let-’er-fly check on Buffalo’s Chad Ruhwedel in Sunday’s 5-2 victory over the Sabres.

“How frustrating? It sucks,” Rinaldo said after a Tuesday morning practice at the BB&C Center, where the Flyers will be trying to clinch a playoff spot tonight against the Florida Panthers. “It’s the last thing I wanted to happen.”

But the first thing Rinaldo wanted to make happen in his disciplinary hearing was for league vice-president Brendan Shanahan and his junior officers to understand ... that Zac didn’t really mean it.

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Even if he does understand it.

“I’m a repeat offender, it looked bad on video,” Rinaldo said. “Just as long as the league knows my intent to injure wasn’t there. That’s what I was concerned about the most. I don’t want to hit anyone, I don’t want to hurt anyone. ... That’s the first thing I wanted to make clear. I’m not playing hockey to hurt anybody. I’m not that type of person off the ice or on the ice. I just wanted the league to know that.”

So Rinaldo will sit for the last four regular season games, including one in South Florida that the Flyers fully expect to end with a brief playoff clinching celebration in the locker room.

“I was in a good groove and I felt really good out there,” Rinaldo said. “I was playing some of my best hockey and it sucks that I can’t be part of the last four-game push here. But I’ll learn from it. I’m just going to build off it and stay positive.”

Meanwhile, head coach Craig Berube will exercise Plan B tonight in the form of Steve Downie, who has missed the last eight games due to a concussion and neck strain injury.

“I’m ready to go,” Downie said today. Of course, he’s said that just about every day for the past week or so. “It might take a couple of shifts to get the legs going but I think the timing’s there. There were a couple of issues there but I feel good now.”

Berube said Downie will start back with his old third-line mates Sean Couturier and Matt Read. Also back will be Tye McGinn, a healthy scratch the past two games who will go on the fourth line while Jay Rosehill goes back to the bench.

No matter how they line up, the Flyers can thank a surprising Devils loss to the Calgary Flames Monday night for the chance tonight to assure themselves of postseason play for the first time in two years. That chance comes against a Panthers team that is coming off a home victory Sunday against the Dallas Stars, which broke a Panthers streak of eight losses in their previous nine games.